Within a year, the Secretary of Transportation has to create regulations to require railroads to report accurate, real-time information about hazardous liquids being transported to the local fusion centers, who will share the information with State and local first responders.

Tank cars that do not meet Federal standards can still be used to transport oil and ethanol until 2018 or May 2025, depending on the type of tank car.

The Secretary of Transportation will have 180 days to create regulations to make sure that tank cars modified to meet Federal standards be equipped with insulating blankets that have been approved by the Secretary.

The non-Amtrak operator can be the private company that owns the tracks, another private company that has an agreement with the track owners or the States.

The non-Amtrak operator will be given access to Amtrak’s reservation system, stations, and operations facilities and will be required to give hiring preferences to the Amtrak employees laid off because of the transfer.

Information from a car’s event data recorder can only be accessed by someone other than the owner or lessee if it’s authorized by a court, is provided willingly by the owner/lessee, is needed for emergency response purposes, or is for traffic safety research and the personally identifiable information is hidden.

In an emergency during which there is a sudden increase in energy demand – which includes during a war that the United States is involved in – “any party” that follows an order to generate electricity can not be sued for violating “any Federal, State, or local environmental law or regulation”.